Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-Charles E. Gear
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
CHARLES E. GEAR, County Clerk of Clay
both as a citizen and public servant, he
has been one of the most successful farmers
in Mulberry Township, Clay County, and has
a well-regulated estate which is pleasantly located
on sections 14 and 24, the residence being on the
latter. His landed possessions comprise 240 acres,
all of which have been brought to a good state of
cultivation and upon which the proprietor has
erected substantial farm buildings. He has a fine
lot of fruit trees, both small and large, on the 80-
acre tract and the whole premises are highly indicative
of enterprise and progress.
Mr. Gear came to Clay County in 1874, and
purchased land although not settling here until
four yeans later. He has made all the improvements
where he lives, these involving the labors of
several years and the outlay of considerable hard
cash. Prior to his removal to Kansas he had been
a resident of Jo Daviess County, Ill., of which he
was a native, having been born in Guilford Township,
April 7, 1840. His father, William T. Gear,
was a native of New York State, and a son of Charles
Gear, likewise born there and who, in 1827, in
company with his brother, Capt. H. H. Gear, removed
to Illinois and located in what is now Galena,
on the Fever River. They had become considerably
interested in the lead mines and assisted
in building up the town of Galena, being very successful
and were included among its leading citizens.
Some time prior to the death of Charles Gear, he
removed to Shullsburg, Wis., and died there in
1853, at the age of sixty-one years. He was a
Whig, politically and had served in Jo Daviess
County, Ill., as a Justice of the Peace for many
years. He was prominent in the Masonic fraternity
�in fact the father of Masonry in Northern
William T. Gear, the father of our subject was
nine years old when his father, Charles, removed to
Jo Daviess County, Ill., and he was there reared in
the mining regions, assisting in smelting and other
work connected therewith. He received a limited
education and like his father before him, attained
to a useful and vigorous manhood. After removing
to Wisconsin, he became County Surveyor of
La Fayette County, also Postmaster of Benton, and
for some time was Register of Deeds. In 1852, in
company with others, he crossed the plains to California
with mule teams and after six years spent in
the mining regions of Sacramento and Marysville, returned,
in the spring of 1857, to his family, they in
the meantime having returned to Illinois. On the
Pacific Slope he had had a varied experience with a
cosmopolitan people and Indians. He continued a
resident of Jo Daviess County, Ill., until his decease
in 1880, which came about in a sudden and
painful manner, he having been thrown from a load
of hay drawn by a runaway team. He was then
sixty-two years old. He had been prominent in
local affairs and represented Guilford Township, in
the County Board of Supervisors. Politically, he
was first a Whig and then a Republican.
The father of our subject was married in Jo Daviess
County, Ill., to Miss Eliza Day, a native of
New Hampshire and the daughter of an old New
England family. She emigrated with her parents
when quite young to Sangamon County, Ill.,
whence later they removed to Jo Daviess County.
The maternal grandparents of our subject were
Erastus and Exie (Mason) Day. They spent their
last days in New Diggings, Wis., dying when
ripe in years. Mrs. Eliza Gear is still living, making
her home with a daughter in Sheffield, Iowa,
and is now seventy years old. She and her husband
united with the Methodist Episcopal Church
early in life. The latter, like his father before
him, was an active member of the Masonic fraternity.
Charles E. Gear was the second of nine children,
five sons and four daughters, all of whom are living
and seven are married. Charles spent his childhood
and youth under the parental roof and acquired
a practical education in the common schools. He
taught school thereafter at times and also engaged
as clerk in a store at Galena, until coming to Kansas.
He was married May 10, 1870, in Galena, to
Miss Camilla Burton, who was born near that city
in its infancy, Oct. 28, 1851, and is the daughter of
Benjamin, a brother of John Burton of Jo Daviess
County. Benjamin Burton was born in Yorkshire,
England, whence he emigrated at an early
day to Northern Illinois, dying there in 1873
at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a successful
man financially and a useful member of the
community. His wife, Mrs. Lavina (Tippet) Burton,
passed away many years prior to the decease of
her husband and when her daughter, Mrs. Gear, was
a child of five years. The latter was reared by her
father and stepmother. Of her union with our
subject there have been born two children�Mabel
E. and Mason C. Mr. .and Mrs. Gear are members
of the Baptist Church in which our subject officiates
as Superintendent of the Sunday-school. Politically,
Mr. Gear is a sound Republican and may
always be found encouraging the enterprises calculated
for the welfare and advancement of the
people around him. He is one of the Township
Trustees and for the past nine years has officiated
either as Township Clerk or Trustee; also as a
member of the School Board. Socially, he is identified
with the A. O. U. W., of Clifton. He was
nominated in October, 1889, by the Republican
party as County Clerk of Riley County, and was
elected by 42 majority.